Motorbikes, Taxis: Take Identification Exercise To Its Logical End

T he ongoing digital identification of taxis in the city of Yaounde launched on July 3, 2026 by the City Mayor, Luc Atangana Messi, has been saluted across the board. Taxi owners and drivers, users and the public have greeted the innovation with a lot of enthusiasm and expectations. This is because many see it as a panacea to the chaos that reigns in the urban mobility sector. In all the country’s ten regions, motorbikes and taxis constitute the main means of mobility, transporting passengers from one part of the city to another and from one rural setting to another. In this case, motorbikes and taxis are laden with enor­ mous task of transporting millions of commuters on a daily basis. Therefore, as the saying goes, to whom much is given, much is also expected. Taxis and mo­ torbikes are therefore shouldering a great task which also requires much caution and greater responsibility for the safety and security of numerous passengers. But this has hardly been the case with our motorbikes and taxis in the country. These means of transportation mostly used by a vast majority of the population is a veritable vector of insecurity, aggressions and accidents. The alarming use of motorbikes and taxis for operations by men of the underworld is a cause for concern. The situation is rampant in Yaounde, Douala and other big cities. In the two English-speaking regions, motorbikes and taxis are used to perpetrate terrorist attacks. In Bamenda for example, motorbikes have been used on several occa­ sions by the armed separatist fighters to carry out sporadic attacks and kidnappings. In Buea, some taxi- drivers have been used either as informants to separatist fighters or using their taxis to waylay victims to sepa­ ratist hideouts. The insecurity in taxis and with motorbikes has reached crescendo and it is high time prompt measures are taken to curb the situation. The proper identification of taxis and motorbikes as well as their owners and drivers will go a long way in solving the problem. Some years back, the government introduced the iden­ tification badges for taxi drivers across the country through their respective syndicates. The identification badges printed with a passport-size photo, name of driver and town where he is operating were often hung on the driving mirrors. But these badges quickly suffered wear and tear, making visibility poor and difficult for passengers to properly identify the driver. With this system, many fake badges were also printed, enabling clandestine drivers to flourish. For the mo­ torbikes, there has not been any formal identification of riders. In some council areas, identification jackets are imposed on them indicating their zone of operation. But the riders are not identified giving room for any Tom and Jerry to mount a motorbike and hit the streets. The motorbike and taxi sector is heavily laden with clandestine operators as the sector is overwhelmingly informal. Also, local councils across the country are attributing registration and door numbers to commercial motorbikes and taxis respectively as part of identification. But this system, has not been effective as many of them took upon themselves to inscribe door numbers on their taxis while motorbikes operate without documents, insurance and technical automobile inspection visit. This is deliberate as a scheme to evade taxes and parking fees collected by the councils. The decision by the Yaounde City Council to institute the digital identification system with the support of the German Technical Cooperation (GIZ) should be im­ plemented to the fullest. Other councils in the countr...